SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 71 



16 pennings make 1 stiver, viz. Id. sterling 



5 stivers — 1 bit — 5d. 



20 do. or 4 bits — 1 guilder — 20d. 



12 guilders, which is the par of exchange, make 20s. 



The coins, beside those enumerated above, are dollars 5s. 

 each; gold Portugal coins, called ducats, 9s. each; moidores, 

 18s. and Johannes, or joes, which are 36s. 



Although the par of exchange is twelve guilders to the 

 pound sterling, it frequently varies according to the demand 

 for bills on Great Britain, or the quantity of specie which is 

 in request. In the former instance I have known government 

 bills on his majesty's treasury to sell for fourteen guilders the 

 pound, which is equal to ll. 3s. 4d. and even good private 

 bills have sold at the same rate. In the latter case, when a 

 want of specie obliges the planters to value on their corres- 

 pondents, their bills have only sold for eleven guilders and 

 eleven guilders and a half. 



Merchants wanting to remit, always prefer shipping pro- 

 duce, in preference to buying bills at the high exchange of 14 

 guilders, as there Is the same chance of that getting to a good 

 market, and probably giving a profit, while the bill transac- 

 tion incurs a certain loss of sixteen and two-thirds per cent, at 

 the first outset. 



